From time to time I have posted some "Work in progress" photos of a project that I have just about wrapped up. So here is the last installment.

I started with this:



A left handed Mauser (the last I have found at a decent price,) a .35 Douglas barrel, and a semi-semi-inletted stock that was intended for a RH action.

I sent the barrel and action to Mark Skaggs in Oregon, and he chambered it in .35 Whelen. Then I worked on polishing the metal, and inletting it into the stock. Then off it went to Gentry in Montana, for the barrel band, turning the barrel for the banded NEGC front sight, weld on a MacFarland checkered bolt handle, and intall a 3-position safety. Back to me for more stock shaping. Metal goes off to Redneck/Lee for bluing and final installation of the front sight. I also sent the stock to Claude Gatewood for bending, because being an amateur stockmaker, I ended up with RH cast and the stock just didn't feel right.

At this point the gun was looking like this:


I did the epoxy base coat finish that Sitka Deer/Art taught to me, which required heating the stock up. So I finally found a use for the natural gas faux fireplace in this house.



I have to admit that I am not very good with this finish method--I probably sanded through the finish at least a half dozen times, and needed to reapply it.

I have been using General Finishes' Arm-R-Seal as my top coat, and it has been quite easy to work with.

So I can't think of much more to do with the project at this point. It uses Warne bases and some old QD Kimber rings I had. With a Leupold Vari-x 3 2.5-8 on board, it weighs 8.5#.



Take the scope off, and install a Williams peep, and I have a quick pointing old school black timber elk gun.



Keeping some crisp lines around the floorplate was a goal



as was figuring out some kind of treatment around the bolt release.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/P1010181.jpg[/img]

And the wood ended up looking pretty good (although I have some Johnson's paste wax on it, and every fingerprint seems to show in the photos.)

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/PB141744.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/PB141738.jpg[/img]

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/utah708/PB141742.jpg[/img]

I will get the stock checkered at some point, but I want to shoot it 50-100 times first. If the stock is going to crack, I would rather not have more money into it when it does.
Sorry for the quality of the photos. It is snowing hard here today, so getting any natural light is out.

Wow....very cool project man!

Looking good. Well done.

very nice love the wood

That bolt is killing me...it's on the wrong side!! Didn't you see that!! I'm not taking it...you can keep it!

I'm very right-handed... really...LOL

Dude,well done,nice wood, and that will be a timber-buster!!!

Steve
Nicely done!

I consider a mere half-dozen sandthroughs a victory!

I like the little ledge under the bolt release. This is how Riley chose to deal with the issue with his 22-250 stock. It is hard to see but the little dark line is on the joining ridge of two concave faces.


Again, nice job.
art

All--

Thanks for the comments.

Art--
I did mean a half dozen sand throughs. I got multiple sand throughs each of a half dozen separate times. It seems like I was never going to get the base coat right.

But I have a question for you regarding this finish. While I understand how it creates a good water impervious barrier, doesn't the checkering negate that?

Utah, that looks super! Congrats...

Nice job and a really nice looking rifle. Congrats and thanks for posting the pictures.

Very nice!

Art--
One of the things about that shelf under the bolt release is that it shows how much material there was in the stock before I started working on it. After all, since this was a RH stock, the expectation was for the bolt release to go on the other side.

Another thing I did was to file down the height of the tang so that there could be more taper and curve down into the grip.

One thing about doing your own work--at least to the extent that one is able--is that you get to add little touches. For example, I stippled the ramp for the front sight by rolling a coarse round file up and down it until I got the texture I wanted. I can'r remember where I learned that trick--probably from somebody's post here.

That's a beauty! You've got skills....

Mike

Nice finish!

what is a 35 douglas? ive never heard of it before.

.35 was the bore, and Douglas is the brand.

It was chambered for .35 Whelen.

By the way, have you used Mark Skaggs for any projects? He is pretty close to you, and quite reasonably priced.

no sir, i havent. i go through Tom Hart at MOA precision. he is great, and completely anal retentive. he hates anything on a rifle that isnt right. he will tell you what is wrong and ask you if you want to have any "recommended" work done. he fixed several things wrong with my Mauser and did it free of charge because he just knew i couldnt afford much. great guy. damn fine smith as well.

I know a few lefties that would love to have that rifle!
Very nice!

You did agreat job. Mcmanis said you gave up acareer as a fishing guide, he should have said as a stockmaker. Really a top rate project. Old Growth

utah: Nicely done!

Left hand mauser - first rate.

I love the touch with the Williams Sight on top of the Scope base. Best of both worlds.

Nicely done.

I'm still jealous about the LH Mauser part!

Absolutely gorgeous... And you're gonna HUNT with that???

Sure, I am going to hunt with it. It actually started as a budget project. The wood came off eBay, it is just a basic Douglas barrel, and I think the action was only about $300 at the time. I did as much of the work myself as I could. But as I added more bells and whistles, the budget concept got left further and further behind. It was probably the trip up to Gentry's for the barrel band, bolt handle, and 3-position safety that hammered the nail in the coffin of my hope that this would be low cost.

But perhaps next year I will draw a tag in Montana to hunt whitetailed deer in the NW part of the state. Given that there are bears there, this might be just the ticket.

EXCELLENT rifle with tons of great touches. Thanks for posting the pictures and sharing with us.

Nicely done. You have a good eye for the custom touches. They really set it off.

I really wanted to stay with a classic American style. I think the key to good stock work is a straight edge and files/small planes. All your flat surfaces need to be truly flat and your lines as straight as they can be. And then your curves need to flow smoothly with no dead spots. The dreaded sandpaper only comes out at the very end--you can do more damage with that stuff in 60 seconds of mindless sanding than you can fix in an hour--if ever.

I love it. Not enough guys doing custom mausers or wood stocks these days.

Utah, what brand recoil pad is that?

That is the Decellerator Sporting Clays model. It has a hard plastic rim at the heel that provides a slicker surface so that the sporting clays shooters don't hang up as they mount their shotguns. It has similar value in a large bore rifle where you are anticipating a rapid shot. Since I was thinking about this as a sneaking through the timber/jump shooting rifle, that seemed like a good choice. The only downside is that a gun standing on the slick edge of the pad can slip and fall if you are not careful.

That is what I thought it was. I looked for the same style pad for a rifle, but couldn't find one. It appears the sporting clays model will work.